Who we are
We enjoy pushing boundaries. We relish challenges. Accelerated growth is our driving force.
Group8 principles
8 fundamental principles have created our brand philosophy and bind our team. They are what drive us to 'never settle'.
Differenti8
Navig8
Acceler8
Innov8
Collabor8
Elev8
Dedic8
Emul8
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Why Group8?
Our vision is to become the most innovative and trusted legal resourcing and human capital consulting business within the markets we operate - the ‘go to’ for ambitious firms and organisations. An uncompromising commitment to 'quality over quantity' is at the core of our business model and culture. Our relentless and passionate pursuit of our clients' goals means that many come to see us as an integral, trusted part of their team.
Who we represent
We are the company we keep. We only collaborate with those who are ambitious and driven, with a vision we believe people will connect with. We won’t accept an assignment, or commit to working with an individual, unless we are absolutely certain that we can successfully meet expectations.
Our philosophy
We differentiate ourselves from our competitors through our elevated standards. We are dedicated to our clients, and the individuals we represent, helping them navigate challenges and achieve their goals through creative thinking. Client relationships are based on mutual collaboration as we work together to accelerate their growth. We become an extension of our client's business as we emulate and advocate their culture, values and ethos.
What they say about us...
Meet the Group8 team
Authenticity and inclusion are fundamental to our dynamic, experienced and eclectic team. We don’t believe in hierarchy – you’re only as good as your next best idea.
Miranda was educated in Law to postgraduate level in the UK and initially decided to pursue a career as a lawyer, with a leading firm in London. She entered the world of legal executive search in 2001, consulting to leading law firms and corporations around the world. With experience gained in Australia, Dubai, Singapore and the EMEA region, her knowledge and expertise is truly global.
The selection of clients on whose behalf Miranda has acted include global law firms, major listed and private entities, and banks, providing strategic advisory and growth solutions. She has lived in the UK, Kuwait, Australia, Dubai and Singapore, and has facilitated team, partner and senior level moves across the world.
Miranda's experience to date encompasses:
- Strategic consulting on the proposed growth of a team, firm merger, team acquisition, the development of a new office or new practice area.
- Consulting and collaborating with law firm clients to develop innovative solutions
- Acting as seconded HR and Resourcing Manager or to work on specific special projects.
- Sourcing for law firms senior practitioners at Partner, Senior Associate or Special Counsel level.
- Sourcing General Counsel, Company Secretaries, Policy Analysts and Senior and Legal Counsel for corporations and providing global search services sourcing lawyers from overseas jurisdictions.
- Regularly called upon by senior practitioners in the legal market for career consulting advice providing support from building their profile through to directly assisting them with a move, domestically or globally.
Examples of recent projects include:
- Acted for a leading global law firm providing consulting, strategic advice and search services to establish a local law offering in Singapore. Coordinated and managed the acquisition of a team of partners and lawyers across a range of practice areas, through to completion and successful integration.
- Seconded to a client to oversee the strategic development and implementation of a full performance management system including full salary bench-marking, performance metrics and employee brand proposition.
- Acted for a major construction contractor to source senior counsel to manage key legal functions in India, Hong Kong and Singapore.
- Acted for a well-established national Australian law firm in consulting, planning and sourcing a team acquisition to establish a new office. Role involved working with the firm’s Board and Managing Partner structuring and managing the project from inception through to completion.
- Acted for major Australian construction contractor to source over 32 lawyers for its national in-house legal team over a period of five years.
- Acted for a major global law firm in sourcing two International Arbitration Partners in Hong Kong.
Based in London acting for clients globally.
Ian has been a successful corporate lawyer for over 20 years working in both private practice and senior in-house roles across the UK, Australia and Asia Pacific. More recently he established his own executive coaching business, providing leadership coaching to senior members of the legal industry and owners of small businesses and start-ups. Ian is a graduate of the Meyler Campbell "Mastered" coaching programme and a member of both the Association for Coaching and the Institute of Coaching.
- Ian is an experienced business coach with particular expertise coaching those in the legal industry, including senior in-house practitioners and those in private practice. In addition, Ian coaches owners of small businesses and start-ups together with those undertaking major changes in career or returning to work after periods of parental leave.
- Ian's primary coaching strengths lie with enabling clients to:
- Set, develop and execute business strategy
- Manage and capitalise on periods of change
- Manage and develop their teams
- Set a clear vision for their own future and achieve their personal objectives
- In addition to his coaching skills, Ian is a highly skilled corporate lawyer with over 20 years' experience across various practice areas and jurisdictions. Most recently he was a senior legal counsel at HSBC with responsibility for the negotiation of highly complex, multi-jurisdictional transactions with a particular focus on technology, IT innovation and outsourcing.
- Prior to HSBC, Ian spent 8 years as a senior legal counsel at British American Tobacco in Sydney where his responsibilities included managing the legal aspects of a global business transformation programme, leading a team of senior corporate lawyers and overseeing complex strategic litigation.
- Ian's private practice career began as a litigator with Norton Rose in London, specialising in complex commercial litigation, before moving to Baker & McKenzie in Sydney where he spent a number of years focusing on commercial disputes and insolvency matters.
Based in the UK, but available to undertake coaching assignments via video-conferencing for clients wherever they may be located.
James leads the Technology and Renewables sector focus at Group8 and supports clients and individuals with transformational moves in private practice. He started his career as a commercial lawyer, with a focus on technology and renewables, spending time on secondment as legal counsel at a multi-national energy company and in the retail sector.
From a family of lawyers, James has always been passionate about the legal sector and innovation. He enjoys business and entrepreneurialism, which attracts him to ambitious high-growth industries and law firms. He has a proven track record in recruiting at mid-to-senior levels in private practice and sourcing Legal Counsel through to Head of Legal/General Counsel roles for the in-house legal market. The depth of combined experience as a lawyer (from PP and in-house) coupled with his resourcing knowledge and experience enables him to be highly effective in consulting to businesses experiencing change and sourcing the best talent. On a personal level, he thoroughly enjoys helping talented professionals achieve their full potential.
Whilst James has expertise across a range of practice areas, his two core sector areas of business growth a Group8 include:
- Technology (IT/SaaS, FinTech, MedTech, EdTech, AdTech companies) including allied areas of Life Science, Intellectual Property and Data Protection; and Energy & Renewables.
- Renewables – James consults to a global energy, renewables and infrastructure business which operates a technology platform enabling Project Owners and Capital Partners to successfully secure projects within the mid-market across LATAM (mainly Brazil and Chile), EMEA, MENA and Asia-Pacific.
When he’s not talent hunting for clients, he enjoys treasure hunting under the sea in new foreign shores (scuba diving and metal detecting!). James practises martial arts – mainly Krav Maga and Muay Thai. He enjoys spending time with family and friends and has developed a passion for Eastern European cooking, thanks to his wife. He also follows technology stocks and enjoys reading about the journeys of influential people and entrepreneurs.
- Foundation Senior Legal Counsel – global technology business: Sourcing the first legal hire for an international technology company which streamlines data management and financial control software. The company had recently won backing from a highly regarded private equity company and was looking to expand in the US market. In addition to specific legal experience, the client needed to secure a senior lawyer who had experience within a high growth technology environment. James sourced and successfully managed a full consulting and targeted search process resulting in the ideal acquisition.
- Legal Team: Consulting to the UK subsidiary of a large Chinese-owned Renewable Energy (Wind Power) company to build their ideal legal organisation strategy. Subsequent delivery and sourcing (via targeted search) of legal counsel, managing the end-to-end process.
- Key legal hire – US FinTech: Sourcing, via an end-to-end search and selection process, the legal counsel for a leading US-owned FinTech company experiencing a rapid phase of growth, driving increased demand for legal support to bolster the legal team in EMEA.
- Legal Director – Tier 1, UK Top 30 global: Acquired a senior EU competition and competition disputes lawyer, ex-Magic Circle. The brief involved acting for a leading firm seeking to grow their UK capability in this niche area. Sourced the right talent via maximising the reach through James’ network and utilisation of AI tools to map the market. The individual relocated back to the UK from a magic circle firm in Belgium.
- Senior Associate, M&A – Global firm: Secured out of a US firm in London using a combination targeting strategy.
- Senior Associate – leading offshore law firm: Sourcing via an end-to-end search and selection process from London to offshore. Supporting a senior lawyer make the move offshore to an international law firm in the Channel Islands with their young family.
Based in the UK.
Abid trained as a lawyer working in corporate finance before entering the resourcing industry 25 years ago. He is an experienced Business Manager and Developer with a wealth of experience in various industry sectors in various locations around the world, including the emerging markets. He has worked in over 35 countries in various CEO roles and was Investor and Director of a UK FTSE250 company, as well as a Non-Executive Director for multiple recruitment companies. He founded ARBP, which trained recruiters in 22 countries and had a wealth of experience in building and managing teams. Industry specialisations include Oil & Gas, Security and Professional Services.
- Trained as a lawyer before entering the world of recruitment over 25 years ago.
- Niche training and consultancy business providing services to the various industries in 22 countries around the world.
- Responsible for building the strategy for a top Oil & Gas brand, creating brand awareness and driving the sales. The strategy yielded triple digit growth for the brand, and developed its contracting business globally.
- Fostered a community of start-up businesses who benefit from the expertise of his investment team.
- Provides dedicated services enabling partners’ businesses to flourish, ranging from operational strategy and back office support to marketing and talent attraction.
London
Victor graduated from the University of Kent with a first class honours degree in Politics & International Relations and subsequently went on to work in a variety of sectors including local government and financial services in administrative and data analysis capacities. This previous experience has allowed him to deliver efficiency improvements across various projects to help Group8 operate as effectively as possible as it continues to grow.
- Key contributor to implementation phase of new speech and text analytics software package used to provide more insightful intelligence data for a financial services company.
- Delivered tailored sessions and reference materials for a charity’s volunteers and service users, providing information needed to tackle the financial issues they face – presented project output to the CEO
- Lead electoral officer responsible for processing registration forms on CRM system containing 240,000 records for registered voters in the borough
- Jointly responsible for project aimed at improving engagement with stakeholders in organisation’s other departments by mapping and recording relationships
London
Redefine gr8 at Group8
Group8 are looking for talented consulting, HR and resourcing professionals to join our ever-growing family. If you’re interested in doing something ‘entirely different’, contact any member of our team to find out more.
Contact us